


_— 


AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXTENSION 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


COMMUNITY WORK OF THE 
RURAL HIGH SCHOOL 


A. W. NOLAN, 
Assistant Professor of Agricultural Extension 





HARLEM SCHOOL. COURTESY OF O. G. KERN, WINNEBAGO Co., ILL. 


URBANA, ILLINOIS 
SEPTEMBER, 1912 


INDEX 


PAGE 
TEPC hii pee ae comets og so) ie vince s pudle wong ech Oe 3 
Arbor:and Farm Produet Day... 207709... 2. ee 4 
Country, Life Library Association...) 2... 20. 6 
Lecture.Courses.) .. 2...) a 8 
Literary Societies... eav4.\ ee eee aie eat 10 
Agricultural Extension Schools...) 2.7.0.4 je.ygar ae 11 
Farm Organizations «20. 400 iG see ee ee 12 
Teachers) Organizations.) cg eae oe A sGe su eae ae a ee: 
Activities Within the School......0..4..0.0" vaste) a | 14 
Agricultural Extension Work?....) 020.0. oo. peat 2 16 
Special Day Observances...) 6.3 fap aoe ee ee 21 
Athletic: Meets and Play Festivals... 2.7. ). 4 iy ee 23 
Farmers” Picnies «<5 <\h.... [Yaka eens. « cenceeane an aan 20 
Summer Plans and Projects........ sae ceed ee 26 
County Y.M.C. A: Work. .20. 20 Soo ox. rad a 


References on: Community Work. 2.” 2320) 03 28 


COMMUNITY WORK IN THE 
RURAL HIGH SCHOOL 


“When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the 
sky isred. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today; 
for the sky is red and lowering.--Ye can discern ihe face of the 
sky, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times.’ 

With respect to the vision of the possibilities for Fil of 
community work in the rural school, this criticism of the Great 
Teacher may apply to many of our school men of today. The 
signs of ihe times, rightly discerned, indicate that the schools 
teaching only the tradilional subjects, preparing only a few 
studiously inclined pupils for college, affording little or no vo- 
cational training, exerting bul little influence upon those mem- 
bers of the community not enrolled in the regular classes, are no 
longer satisfactory to the tax-payer nor to the progressive leaders 
of education. If there are any good things in education, and 
we all believe there are many, if the high school has come into 
possession of some of these good things, itmust go forth from 
its four walls, from its books, and from its laboratories, and 
bring these good things to all the people of the community, so 
that some of the ignorance, some of the superstition, some of the 
suffering, some of the waste and some of the unhappiness may 
be ameliorated. This is especially needful in rural communilies, 
-and arural high school comes short of its highest mission, 
when it fails to minister to community needs wherever it can. 

The activities suggested in this circular are called “Com- 
munity Work” for want of abetter name. Community work is 
a form of extension work, growing oul of vocational instruction 
in schools. The extension idea isa prevalent one inthe business 
world, in the religious world, and in the educational world. As 
institutions have reached out and extended their influence, they 
have enlarged and enriched their ownlives. Thus it must be with 
the rural high school. To live and teach apart from community 


4. 


interests, is to die with “dry rot.” To makeits life and teach- 
ings felt among all classes of people inthe community is to bring 
new life to the school and permanent progress to the commun- 
ity. . 

Most of the lines of community work concretely suggested 
in the following pages have been tried out personally by the writer 
in rural high schools, and they are unreservedly commended as . 
practical and helpful. | 

In order to do effective community work as suggested in the 
following pages, the principal of the high school should provide 
his office with a complete card index, giving information about 
each person in the school community. The address, occupa- 
tion, special interests, attitudes, and any other information nec- 
essary lo guide the school in community coéperation, should be 
listed on these cards. From these cards a complete mailing list 
should be made up and kept on file at the principal’s office. 
Much of this information can be obtained from the assessor’s 
records at the county court house. The principal should early 
acquaint himself with the roads, farms, natural resources, and — 
locations of the homes of the patrons of his district. 


ARBOR AND FARM Propuct DAY 


About the first and most practical piece of community work 
in the fall term of school is Arbor and Farm Product Day. A 
week or two before the appointed day, the principal should send 
out a letter to every patron of the school, explaining the plans 
and purposes of the meeting and inviting the cooperation of 
every home. Some such form: as the following might be used: 


“Dear Friend and Patron. of the. .7.% °...9¢5.. sss School: 

“The teachers and pupils of... .. +s... .(ss6 see School 
have decided to havean Arbor and Farm Product Day.......... 
and we cordially invite your cooperation and attendance. Bring 
good samples of corn, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, chickens, or 
any other farm product you think good enough to show, and 
help us to arrange an exhibil for the benefit of all. No prizes 
can be awarded but the exhibits should have an educational 
value. During the afternoon the pupils will plant: trees and 
shrubs on the school grounds, anda short program of appro- 
priate exercises will be given. At night a public educational 
address will be given. | 


) 


“The school is yours and you are ours; come and let us 
work together in the interest of the whole community. 
Sincerely yours. 


Principal.” 





EXHIBIT OF FARM PRODUCTS AT SCHOOL 


The above letter will give some idea of the preparation for 
the day necessary on the parl of the school. Various commit- 
tees should be appointed among the patrons, teachers and pu- 
pils who are to be responsible for certain duties. There might 
be acommiltee on reception, arrangement of exhibits, cleaning 
up grounds, securing’ lrees, providing programs, and any other 
local needs to be provided in order to make the day a success. 
The program should not fail to provide for a few talks by pa- 
trons of the school. | | 

In connection with the work of preparing exhibils of farm 
produets, it would be a most commendable activity for the rural 
schools to codperate in planning a Public School Day at the 
‘County Fair. 





A DINNER FOR EVERYBODY AT A COUNTRY SCHOOL COMMUNITY MEETING. 
CADWELL, ILLINOIS. 


COUNTRY Lire LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 


At the close of the foregoing exercises, opportunily will be 
afforded for the principal to set in motion other phases of. com- 
munity work, and throw out lines of definite action. For ex- 
aimple,a country life library association may be organized. In 


anticipation of this opportunity, the principal should have about 
one hundred membership cards printed, such as: 


SRETEY Fie. CMC M EC APIs 91 AE, Si eee: bay gh School. 


Country Life Library Association 


Member... teeta). ee 
Fee 50 ¢. 





, 


7 


On the back of the card should be printed a list of the books 
proposed for the library. The following books are suggested: 


CountTrRY LiFe LIBRARY. 


Report of Commission on Country Life-—Bailey 
Chapters on Rural Progress—Butterfield 

The State and the Farmer—Bailey 

The Rural Life Problem of the United States—Plunkett 
The Nature Study Idea—Bailey 

Checking the Waste—Gregory 

The Land We Live In—Price 

Getting Acquainted with the Trees—McFarland 
A Boy on the Farm—Abbott 

The Corn Lady—Fields 

Stories of Country. Life—Bradish 

Black Beauty—Sewell 

“A Dog of Flanders—Ouida 

Good Health—Gulick 

The Hoosier School Master—Egeleston 

Famous Poems Explained—Barbe 

Knighthood in Germ and Flower—Cox 

David Copperfield—Dickens 

Tales from Shakespeare—Lamb 








The Fat of the Land-—Streeter 

Manual of Practical Farming—McLennan 

Beginnings in Agriculture—Mann 

Lessons in Agriculture—Nolan 

Farm Paper 

Farm Boys and Girls—-McKeever 

Neighborhood Enterlainments—Stern 

Keeping up with Lizzie—Bachelor 

It should be explained to all that every patron paying fifty 
cents becomes a member and is issued one of the cards. Mein- 
bership entitles one to access to all the books of the library 
listed on the card. It should be made clear that the fee goes to- 
ward the purchasing of the books, and that for fifty cents a 
member may get to read a dozen or more books. The fee might 
well be $1.00. After as many names are secured as possible at 
the meeting, cards should be given to the older pupils who will 
solicit further membership in the community. The principal or 


8 
some responsible pupil may act as librarian and keep strict ac- 


count under rules of the books used. Small, cheap slips as fol- 
lows may be used as “checks” on books sent out: 


IE ANN arte 7 re RG te ala ia High School 


Country Life Library Association 
Name of book taken...w...:.0cccccc et AS ee 


Memb6@?e.ccsc ee ee ee 





On the back of the card library rules as follows may be. 
printed: | 

1. A membership fee of 50 cents entitles all students and 
patrons to the use of all the books of the library. 

2. Membership fees shall be used forthe purchase of books 
for the library. | 

3. No book shall be retained by a member longer than two 
weeks without renewal. 

4, Kach member is held responsible for the care of the 
books in his possession. . 

5. No member shall take more than two books from the 
library at the same time. 

6. The Principal of the High School or some student select- 
ed by him shall act as librarian. 


If there is a State Library Commission, the high school 
should codperate with it, in becoming the head-quarters for the 
traveling libraries which the Commission sends out. The prin- 
cipal should write to the State Library Commission and learn the 

plans under which libraries are loaned to schools. 


LECTURE COURSES 


Early in the school year the rural high school may arrange 
for a popular lecture course, and this form of community work 
has been tested sufficiently to warrant its approval by progres- 
sive school men. It is possible to provide a very good course 
with little cost, and at the beginning it is not wise to risk heavy 
expenditures fora lecture course. One or two men may usually 
be dated from the State University or College of Agriculture, free: 


9 


of charges; a good lawyer, minister, or physician from the near- 
est city may be willing to offer his services for expenses. A 
man from the State Department of Schools, a member of Con- 
gress or of the State Legislature is often available; local musical 
organizalions may provide a musical number, and other talent 
may be obtained at slight cost. 

Let the principal of the school start after some of this talent 
in persistent earnestness and he can soon be able to shape up a 
course that will appeal to his people. 

Here is the way a lecture course ticket read, arranged by a 
principal of a small rural high school this year: 


LIMA HIGHBSCHOOL AH ALG 





AUDITORIUM OF A RuRAL HIGH SCHOOL, HOWE, INDIANA. 


HIGH SCHOOL LECTURE COURSE 


‘ SEASON TICKET 


Oct. 31, 11, Lecture, Professor from Agricultural 
; College. 

Dec. 1, 14, Lecture, Professor from University. 

Jan. 5, 42, Concert, Local Chorus. 

Feb. 1, 42, Lecture, City Physician. 

Mar. 3, 12, Lecture, Congressman. 

ADI. 0, 12. sCOOOlPiay. 


— ADMIT ONE 





10 


The tickets were distributed as compliments by the high 
school students among the patrons and friends of the school. 
The numbers of this course have been well attended and Il am 
told that they were popular in the community. 

After a year or two of these free lecture courses, itis easy to 
begin charging a small price for the season tickets, and thus 
secure lyceum or other talent of high order, and establish a per- 
manent lecture course. 


LITERARY SOCIETIES 


It is a common thing for high schools to have literary soci- 
eties. This may be made a good form of community work. If 
the school is large enough there should be two societies. Pro- 
grams could be provided on alternating Friday evenings and the 
public invited. Young people of the community who are not in 
school will attend and these might frequently be asked to take 
part on the programs. 





HiGH SCHOOL GLEE CLUB AND ORCGCHESTRA-—LIMA INDIANA 
TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL. 


i 


AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SGHOOLS 


As the winter comes on, and there is little opportunity for 
the country people to have social or educational advantages, the 
rural high school may codperate with the Agricultural College 
in the organization of an Extension School for farmers in the 
community. Where twenty-five or thirty local farmers agree 
to enroll, pay a small fee and attend the school for one week, 
the Extension Department of the College of Agriculture will send 
men and equipment and conduct a school for these farmers and 
_ their families. 

The high school could easily and profitably take the initia- 
tive in this matter, provide a room for the school, get up the 
enrollment among the farmers and arrange for the instructions 
from the College. The work of such extension schools con- 
sists of lectures and demonstrations along various agricultural 
lines by men who are experts in their subjects. High schools 
will find that the Colleges of Agriculture are ready and willing 
to cooperate inthis form of community work, and the only rea- 
son why there might be a failure to secure such a cooperation 
for any rural high school, would be because the College would 
be unable to find men enough to supply the demand. 

If there is a teacher of Agriculture in the high school, 
there is no reason why these agricultural short courses could 
not be managed entirely by the high school teacher and the help 
from the farmers. In many states provision is made for short 
courses during the winter to be held by the agricultural depart- 
ment of the high school. These short courses conducted by high 
schools may begin after the Christmas holidays and extend.over 
a period of four or six weeks and provide courses for farm boys 
and girls who cannot attend the regular courses. The last week 
of such a short course could well be called “Farmers’ Week”, 
and special instruction and lectures provided for all farmers 
and their wives. In connection with such short courses it is 
advisable to call on local talent as much as possible for taiks 
and instructional assislance. 

Special courses in Commercial Arithmetic, Business Law, 
Rural Life Interests, English and Composition, Agriculture, 
Manual Training and Household Arts and Science, should be 
organized for these short courses in the rural high school. 

In all these meetings of country people, suggested in this 
circular, no opportunity should be lost to have prominent em- 


Uc OF WL LIB. 


le 


phasis given, wherever appropriate to the improvment of health 
and rural sanitary conditions and to the improvement of public 
highways. 

The rural high school should own astereopticon and a num- 
ber of good lantern slides to use in extension work as well as in 
the regular work of the schools. Good lantern slides may be 
borrowed from the various divisions of the Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C., for only the cost of expressage each 
way. 


FARM ORGANIZATIONS 


Not long ago I was present al a State Farmers’ Institute 
~ where hundreds of leading farmers were in altendance from 
every part of a great agricultural state. In one session the sub- 
ject for discussion was, “How to Combat Successfully the Chinch 
Bug.” The difficult problem in all the discussion seemed to be, 
how can farmers work together to combat the chinch bug, for 
unless there be organized effort, it is useless for one farmer to 
do much in the’way of fighting the bugs. One farmer arose in 
the meeting and in a tone of despair, said, “Pray, somebody tell 
us how we can form an organization, and who are to be our 
leaders in the rural communities.” 

This gentleman voiced the real situation, which the farmers 
in most communities perfectly realize. I wondered, as I heard 
this “call from Macedonia”, where are the rural school teachers, 
and why don’t they see the opportunity? Especially should the 
principal of the rural high school be a leader in the organiza- 
tion of the farmers of the school community. 

First and foremost among farmers’ organizations of this 
country is the National Order of Patrons of Husbandry, com- 
monly knownas the Grange. Many people think this splendid 
old order isa thing of the past, bul it is the largest and most 
aclive of all farmers’ organizations of today. It is the only 
effectively organized national institution among the farmers at 
present, reaching into almost every state and territory of the 
union. ‘ 

It is founded on the principles of education and cooperation 
among the country people, and forbidding partisanship in poli- 
tics and religion, it is bound to survive and grow. If the princi- 
pal of the rural high school is not a member, of the Grange, or 
even if he isa member, lethim write to the state master of the 


13 

Grange and askhim to send a deputy into the community to 
organize a Grange. It will not cost anybody anything except 
the $1.00 fees for men and 50 cent, fees for women who join the 
new organization. Of course the principal should have pre- 
viously worked up a sentiment either by privately talking among 
the farmers or by calling a meeting for the purpose of talking 
organization. At least fifteen members should be ready to join 
the Grange when the deputy comes. 

After the Grange is organized and a regular place and time 
of meeting delermined upon, and of course the school house 
should be the place—many opportunities for excellent com- 
munity work will arise. Aside from the lilerary, social and 
educational advantages afforded by the regular meetings, the 
opportunity for effective codperation in buying and selling is 
offered. Farmers of the community will quickly see that it is to 
their advantage to get together to purchase car-load lots of lime 
and fertilizers for their fields, spray material for their orchards 
or pure-bred sires for their live-stock breeding. 

The school principal who can tactfully and sincerely lead 
out in these organized activities, is not only laying a permanent 
foundation for his own success, but for the better support of the 
school in all its departments. In mere financial gains, sucha 
farmers’ organization successfully carried on, would more than 
pay all dues expended by the farmers and it would go far loward 
making it possible to increase the teachers’ salaries. 

If it is not feasible to organize a Grange, the principal of the 
rural high school, together with the teacher of agriculture, and 
the advanced pupils may organize a local agricultural club, 
composed of the farmers and their wives. Such a club should 
have a constitution, a set of officers, and a definite program to 
carry out. The farm women may have separate sessions, where 
questions of home life on the farm and other issues of interest 
may be discussed. Let the organization once be formed, under 
intelligent leadership and many avenues of cooperation and 
communily activities will open up. 

Boys’ and girls’ agricultural clubs, which will be discussed 
later, should by all means be a feature of the organization work 
of the rural high schools. 


TEACHERS’ ORGANIZATIONS 


It can be said to the credit of the rural school teachers that 


14 


they are, and have been for some time, more effectively organiz- 
ed than the farmers. Teachers are accustomed to organization 
and progress inthis work should not be difficult. The rural 
high school has a place of influence in its relation to the country 
school teacher of the community. Many of thecountryteachers | 
in the vicinity of the high school will have graduated from the 
high school and will therefore be interested in any effort of 
the high school to extend its influence into the country districts. 

The principal of the rural high school should call a meeting 
of the country teachers of his district or township and organize 
a “‘schoolmaster’s club,” or some such organization having more 
to it than a mere teachers’ institute. These teachers’ organi- 
zations might be a sort of literary, social, or reading circle, and 
meet fortnightly at some home in the community. Rural and 
agricultural problems should form a large part of the programs 
of these meetings. A regular course of lessons or agricultural 
demonstrations given by the principal would be helpful to the 
country teachers. Throughout the year the high school princi- 
pal should issue, as regularly as’ seems wise, circular letters, 
giving outline plans, practical devices, helpful suggestions, etc., 
along lines of rural school work, especially in nature-study and 
agriculture. Some of the agricultural demonstralion work of 
the class in agriculture in the high school, such as pruning, spray- 
ing, testing herds, etc., might be given in the neighborhood of 
the country schools of the high school district, and thus become 
a sort of extension work from the highschool through the co- 
6peration of the country school teachers. Nature-study rambles 
and cross-country “hikes” on Saturday for rural school teachers 
under the direction of the principal, is a good scheme to pro- 
mote social and educational interest. These and many other co- 
Operative plans could be worked out ina teachers’ or gant 
centering in the rural high school. 


ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE SCHOOL TOUCHING THE LIFE 
OF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY 


Certain organizations among the students of the highschool 
may include young people not in the school, and thus have a 
far-reaching influence on the social and educational life of the 
community. For instance, the Boys’ Corn Club, or the Girls’ 
Home Science Clubs, which every active high school should or- 
ganize, may include young people not in the school and be a 


15 


‘ 


valuable means of social and educational improvement to them. 
The organization of boys’ and girls’ agriculture clubs is so simple 
and so universally done, that it is nol necessary here to give de- 
tails of suggestions as to organizalions. Suffice it to say that 
every rural high school should have active agricultural clubs 
among its. students. 





GIRLS’ ‘TOMATO CLUB 


_ Itshould be possible in a rural high school to organize vari- 
ous musical clubs,—bands, orchestras, glee clubs, choruses, etc., 
to enliven the work of the whole school and to furnish music 
_for the functions undertaken by the school in the community 
work. One rural high school, the writer knows of, had a_ glee- 
club which gave concerts throughout the country in country 
churches and village halls. The good results of such community 
work can hardly be overestimated. 

Another community activity often possible in the rural high 
school is amateur journalism. A school paper, published weekly 
or monthly, going out into all the homes of the patrons furnishes 
a splendid avenue through which the principal and the school 
may touch in a constructive way the life of the whole communi- 
ty. There may be school news, agricultural contributions, bul- 
letins of announcements, educational policies, and lilerary pro- 
ductions in the make-up of a school paper. 

The principal should make use of the local county papers 
in promoting the educational interests of the community. 


‘ 


16 


An art exhibit at the school building is an activity in which 
the whole community may be profited. There are several art 
supply houses which will send oul to reliable guarantors, splendid 
collections of reprints of famous paintings. These pictures 
may be exhibited in the school building, along with the hand- 
work, drawing and other art work of the high school students. 
A small admission charge may be made and money enough 
raised to purchase a good picture for the school. Often several 
pictures will be sold to the patrons of the community, and the 
whole result of the exhibit will be of permanent educational 
value in raising art standards and the appreciation of good 
pictures. 


EXTENSION AND COOPERATION WorK AMONG FARMERS 


In somewhat the same way that agricultural extension work 
has given new life and cooperative support to the colleges of 
agriculture in this country, so must similar forms of extension 
activities along agricultural lines vitalize the rural high schools. 
This is what is being done already in hundreds of high schools 
all over this country. Whenever the boys and girls of the rural 
high school are willing and able, through the direction of a 
wide-awake, up-to-date teacher, to carry to the homes and 
farms of the community some practical and useful knowledge 
which the farmers can use in their life-work and business, then 
the tax-payers will rally to the support of that school and thus | 
more and more enable the school to become what it should be, a 
center of all that is helpful to the community. The following 
concrete examples of agricultural extension work are entirely 
practical in the rural high school: 

Testing Seed Corn.—During the month preceding the corn 
planting season, the agricultural laboratory of the high school 
should become an active center for testing the seed corn of the 
farmers of the community. The boys should bring about one . 
bushel of ear corn for each test, and there should be enough 
boxes made by the students, to test all the corn brought in. 
Methods of making these boxes and seed corn tests are fully de- 
scribed in bulletins and text-books. The school should be able 
to report to the farmers the per cent of germination of all seed 
corn brought in to be tested. 

Testing for Butter Fat in Milk of Cows.—Every rural high 
school should own a Babcock milk tester. A good four-bottle tester 


be a 


can be purchased for about $8.00, and the operation of the ma- 
chine is so simple that any high school boy can useit. The boys 
and girls from the farms of the school community should bring 
in composite samples from each of the cows onthe home farm 
and have the milk tested for its butter-fat content. The classin 
agriculture should be able to show that a cow whose milk tests 
only two per cent or even three per cent butter fat is probably 
not paying for her keep. These facts should be reported to the 
farmers after the tests have been carefully made, and a new in- 
terest in both the school and the farm will have been aroused. 

Poultry Contests Under the auspices of the high school, the 
following projects in poultry work are recommended: 

1. Early in the school year offer prizes to the boys or girls, 
keeping a pen of poultry of a given number, of any breed, and 
for a given time, say sixty or ninety days, and producing the 
greatest number of eggs from the pen. The prizes very ap- 
propriately awarded might be,— | 

Ist. A selting of eggs from a pure-bred type. 
2nd. A good pure-bred hen. 
3rd. A book on poultry culture. 

2. In the spring another project in raising chickens might 
be undertaken. 

Let any boy or girl start with a given number of eggs from 
‘any breed of chickens and hatch and raise a brood of young 
chickens, either by means of the hen or the incubator. Prizes 
might be awarded as follows: 

1. For the largest number of chickens successfully raised 
from a given number of eggs. 

First prize—A pen of prize chickens of good breed. 
Second prize—A pair of chickens. 
Third prize—A book on poultry culture. 

2. For the best exhibit of a poultry pen, the same series of 
prizes may be awarded. All these projects would naturally cul- 
~ minate inan exhibition on Farm Products’ Day as noted earlier 
in this Circular. 

These are merely suggestions of some of the simplest pro- 
jects. The resourceful teacher will Has of others in connection 
with poultry raising. 

Soil Fertility Plot Demonstration Work.—sSoil analyses and 
pot-culture tests have shown that the commonest deficiencies of 
our soils are a lack of nitrogen, limestone and phosphorus. Crude 


18 


and simple tests for the presence of limestone in the soils of the 
school community may be made by the class in agriculture. 
Let the boys bring a ball of the soil from the field to be tested. 
Moisten a lump of the soil, break it in two, and place a strip of 
blue litmus paper belween the pieces of the broken lump, and 
firmly press the soil together around the litmus paper. If after 
ten or fifleen minutes the paper turns red, it indicates that the 
soil is sour and probably needs limestone. Take a lump of the 
soil and pour a few drops of hydrochloric acid upon it, if it does 
not effervesce it is lacking in limestone. 

Upon several farms in the community thus tested, demon- 
stration plots in the use of fertilizers should be laid out. For 
the sake of experiment in communilies where limestone and 
phosphorus have not been used, on as many home farms as will 
take up the work and provide the material, the following scheme 
should be tried: 

Lay off in the fall or winter a plot, 4rods by 4 rods (1/10 of an 
acre) and apply 50 Ibs. of ground limestone and 200 lbs. of fine- 
ly ground rock phosphate. If it is applied an a clover field, so 
much the better; in any case add about a ton of stable manure 
to the plot before turning under. Lay off a second plot, asa 





THREE HUNDRED PUPILS IN THE SCHOOL GARDEN AT 
Lima, IND., ON Patrons’ Day 


19 


“check” to which no treatment is given. For one plot to be used 
by the school for demonstration purposes, The Jno. Ruhm Co., of 
Mt. Pleasant, Tenn., will probably furnish a 200-lb. sack of rock’ 
phosphate free. Several such test plots should be made on the 
farms of the community by the boys of the high school class in 
agriculture. Select plots on fields to be planted in corn. 

Pot culture methods of analyzing the needs of the soil of the 
farms in the community may be carried on by a ‘teacher who 
understands this work. 

For a demonstration plot at the Schp Ol: the following plan 
is a modification of the present agricultural experiments at the — 
Western Illinois State Normal, Macomb, as suggested by Mr. J. 


T. Johnson, and recommended by Co. Supt., G. W. Brown of 
Paris. 

















General. Suggestions :—Every boundary line should be a 
grass or gravel walk three feet wide. Every square should be 
48x18 feet. Before harvesting crops, for records, each plot- or 
square should be cut to a perfect rod square. For yield per acre, 
multiply by one hundred sixty. 

Rotations should be conducted as follows: 

Plots 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15---Continuous corn corps. 

Plots 20, 24, 22, 23, 24, 25—(orn and oats rotation. 

Plots 30, 31, 32, 33, 34; 35—Corn, oats and clover rotation. 

Plots 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45—Corn, oats, clover and wheat rotation. 

The experiments in the value of standard fertilizers could 
be tested in this way: 

Plots 10, 20, 30, 40—Nothing. 
Plots 14, 21, 31, 41—Apply manure. 


20 


Plots 12. 22, 32, 42—Manure and lime. . 

Plots 18, 23, 38, 43—Manure, lime and phosphorus. 

Plots 14, 24, 34, 44—-Manure, lime phosphorus and potassium. 

Plots 15, 25, 35, 45—Nothing, and in addition, permit no veg- 
etable matter to decay. Remove it. 

Only a small amount of land is needed for this work and it 
is worth the effort necessary to carry it out. 

Orchard Pruning and Spraying-—In March or April the 
high school class in agriculture can do good extension work along 
the lines of orchard pruning andsprayinginthecommunity. On 
some Friday or Saturday it should be arranged that the class 
will give a demonstration in one of the orchards of the com- 
munity. The farmers and their families should be invited in to 
see this work. The boys under the direction of the teacher 
should prune old and young apple trees and be able to explain 
the principles and methods of their work. Aspray-pump should 
also be provided and the trees of the orchard properly sprayed in 
the presence of the farmers. The extension departments of the 
state colleges of agriculture are usually ready and willing to co- 
Operale with an active school in undertaking this work. 

School Nurseries of Orchard and Forest Trees. If there is 
as inuch as one-tenth of an acre of ground available about the 





STUDENTS PRUNING A FARMER’S ORCHARD 


r41 


high school building, not used for playgrounds or school gardens, 
it would be a good opportunity for community work to set out 
. seedlings or grafted trees innursery rows. The ground should 
be plowed or spaded up and prepared thoroughly as though for 
seed sowing. Rows about three feet apart should be laid out 
and the little trees set in the rows about ten or twelve inches 
apart. Seedlings of forest or shade trees, such as Catlalpa spec- 
tosa, soft maple, while ash, American elm, tulip, linden, ete., 
may be obtained from any reliable nursery at little cost. Seed- 
lings of apple or other fruit trees may be bought cheaply by the 
hundreds and set in the nursery row. These may be grafted 
when set out, or budded later, from bearing trees of the desired 
varieties by the class in agriculture. | 

After these little trees have grown and been cared for fora 
year or two, they may be distributed to the homes of the patrons 
to be planted in the yards as shade trees or in the orchards for 
fruit, as the case may be. 4 | 

Hot-beds and Green-house Supplies. If itis possible for the . 
high school to have a greenhouse, much valuable community 
work can be done by growing such vegetables and flowers as can 
be transplanted. Tomatoes, cabbage, egg-plants, cauliflower, 
salvia, chrysanthemums, astors, castor beans, etc., may be grown 
at school and at the proper season sent out by the pupils to be 
transplanted at their homes. If a greenhouse is not practical, a 
hotbed may be constructed and many vegetabies and flowers 
grown here, to be distributed for the home gardens. It will have 
avery salutary effect upon the relations belween the home and 
the school for the home to look to the school for benefits of a 
material sort as well as of a more intellectual and spiritual 
nature and not be disappointed in receiving such benefits. 


SPECIAL DAY OBSERVANCES. 


When the community has learned lo look to the rural high 
school for leadership in educational, social, and agricultural 
affairs, it is easy to lead out in all sorts of community activities, 
and do ever enlarging service for all the people. In the celebra- 
tion of special days, opportunity is afforded to teach lessons of 
patriotism and appreciation for the great and good men and prin- 
ciples that, have meant most in our country’s history. These 
~ lessons may be brought home forcibly to all the people of the. 


ee 


community through the cooperation of the patrons and pupils in 
special day observances under the auspices of the high school. 

To be concrete as to method, let the principal of the high . 
school present a plan similar to the following lo his teachers 
and pupils and ask their codperation: Suppose it is to bea 
Decoration Day observance. Consent of the owner of some 
near-by grove should be obtained and arrangements made to 
hold the meeting there. Commitlees from the teachers and high 
school pupils should then be appointed; commiltees on prepara- 
tion of the grounds, on music, on program, on flowers for deco- 
ration of the graves, elc. A program should be arranged con- 
sisting of appropriate orations, declamations, songs, elc., given 
by the pupils of the school. The principal should preside at this 
meeting, and as many old soldiers as are in the community 
should be asked to sit on the platform. Brief addresses should 
be given by some of tbe old soldiers, or by any prominent citizens 
of the community. Of course if there is a school band, it should 
occupy a large place on the program and head a march to, the 
cemetery, where all the pupils and patrons may contribute in the 
decoration of the graves. 





COUNTRY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM, ALL COUNTRY Boys, 
Lima, IND. 


23 


Under the auspices and leadership of the teachers of the 
rural high school the following special days should be observed, 
with appropriate programs of music, declamations and orations, 
and such activities as are necessary to make the day mean what 
it was set apart for: Arbor Day, Easter Tide, May Day, Hal- 
lowe’en, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The 
stale department of public schools in many states provides at- 
tractive and practical programs for schools desiring to observe 
these special days. Sturgis and Walton Company put outa 
little book by Stern, called “Neighborhood Entertianment,”’ 
which, among other excellent suggestions, outlines plans for 
social evenings, and special days such as New Year’s Eve, Saint 
Valentine’s Day, Washinglon’s Birthday, Saint Patrick’s Day, 
etc. Unless the high school encourages and directs some of 
these social affairs of the young people of the community, they 
are likely to find their guidance and social functions under less 
elevating and more queslionabte leadership. 


ATHLETIC MEETS AND PLAY FESTIVALS. 


Students of rural sociology are convinced that the play life 
is not sufficiently provided for or directed among country people. 





YounG ATHLETES AT A COUNTRY PLAY FESTIVAL, ASHER, ILL. 
(Courtesy of Supt. G. W. Brown, Edgar Co. ) 


24 


The hunger for play in human life is just as real and as in- 
stinctive as the hunger for food, and unless this hunger be‘sat- 
isfied properly the life will become dwarfed and less efficient in 
the real work of the world. Play should never become an end 
in itself. Schools should not encourage athletics in order to train 
up professional athletes, but play should be encouraged, provided 
for, and directed as a means to a more efficient life of usefulness. 
In the rural communities no belter leadership can be found to 
direct the play life of all the people than the rural high school. 

Some lime in May let there be planned an athletic meet and 
play festival, to be held at or near the high school, wherever 
suitable grounds can be oblained. Several neighboring schools 
might enter into competition in the usual “stunts” given on 
athletic field days, but it is not) necessary to have other schools 
enter the meet. Let the larger boys in the school or the young 
men of the community who are not in school enter the contests 
in running, jumping, vaulting, etce., competing against each 
other. Set apart an afternoon to these events. Invite all the 
people in. While the larger boys are engaging in these field 
athletic contests, other events for the girls and smaller children 
should be planned to be going on at the same time. The girls 
might play basket ball. A May pole dance or drill would bea 
delightful event,and ingenious lady teachers will easily provide 
attractive drills and games for children to play on the lawns al 
this play-festival. The school band will of course enliven the 
whole occasion with stirring music. 





AT THE COUNTRY SCHOOL, PLAY FESTIVAL, CADWELL, ILLINOIS, 


Rd 


FARMERS’ PIGNICS. 


With this same motive to provide good recreation for country 
people, the rural high school should plan and carry out a 
farmers’ picnic, either in the fall or spring. Locate some at- 
tractive grove, provide speaker’s platform and seats, and adver- 
tise the picnic. The principal of the school should of course 
seek the codperation of the boys and the interested men of the 
community in making these arrangements possible. You can 
depend upon the women to provide the “eats,” as well as some 
of the best things of the program. The high school should pro- 
vide a program of music, declamations, orations, ete., and there 
should be no difficulty in securing a speaker from the College of 
Agriculture or from among the local leaders to give addresses. 
The theme of the program should be rural life and its int- 
erests. 

Several communities in the country have social circles, and 
the farmers and their families meet at the homes of the members 
at stated times for social intercourse, recreation, and refresh- 
ments. The rural high school could easily encourage and prob- 
ably inaugurate such social organizalions among the country 
people ofjthe;community. 





eer iaere GATHERED AT A COMMUNITY MEETING, ASHER ILL., EDGAR Co, 
(Courtesy of Supt. G. W. Brown.) 


SUMMER PLANS AND PROJECTS. 


Even after the regular school year closes, the rural high 
school that has caught the spirit of community work may con- 


26 


tinue to be active through its teachers, students and patrons in 
the service of communily life. A summer encampment for boys 
for a week or ten days under the guidance of the high school 
principal or some man teacher would be an excellent thing to 
have. If the school has a Boy Scout organization, and such an 
organization would certainly be commendable in a rural high 
school, the encampment idea could be easily carried oul. It 
would pay in value received, not estimated in dollars and cents, 
for the school principal to. take part of his vacation in this work 
for boys of the community. | 

Other summer activities inspired by the rural high school 
are various projects along agricultural lines. Each student in 
the agricultural class should carry on some project, raise some 
crops or animals on the home farm during the summer. Grow- 
ing the most and best corn on an acre, making variety tests with 
corn, properly caring fora given number of fruit trees, selting 
and caring for a catalpa grove, raising and feeding a bunch of 
pigs, keeping a pen of poultry, planting, caring for and market- 
ing vegetables from a garden, sowing an acre of alfalfa,—these 
and many other projects are entirely practical, and besides giving 
useful and profitable vocation in vacation, they touch vitally the 
interests of the whole community and tide over the break between 
the school years, greatly to the advantage of the school and to 
the benefit of the community life. 





A CORNER IN THE SCHOOL GARDEN AT CADWELL, ILL. 
(MINNIE DE SART, TEACHER-:) 





af 
County Y. M. C. A. Work. 


If the rural high school is fortunate enough to be located in 
a county having the organized Y. M. C. A. county work, it should 
cerlainly open its doors to this religious movement and have a 
hearly cooperation with the county secretary. If there is no 
organized county Y. M. C. A. work, the narrowest religious bigot’ 
of the community could not object to the organization of a Young 
Men’s Christian Association as a part of the community work 
of the rural high school. Statistics show that among the Prot- 
estanis, especially, religious education is woefully neglected and 
that the percentage of juvenile crime rises in proportion as 
religious education of the young is neglected. 

With the activities throughout the community emanating 
from the high school il is but natural that there should be ac- 
tivilies along lines of religious organization. ‘The simplest and 
most practical way to make a beginning is for the principal to 
appoint a committee of seven or ten young men who are in 
sympathy with this work to arrange for regular Sunday meet- 
ings. These meetings should be strictly undenominational in 
character and they may consist of the ordinary devotional exer- 
cises and brief religious talks by the leading men of the com- 
munity. In one instance the writer knows of, such meetings 
developed into a well-organized Y. M. C. A., having a gymna- 
situa, reading room, and parlor, furnished and equipped by the 
citizens of the community. | 

If nothing so definite as an organized religious associatio 
seems advisable under the auspices of the rural high schoo! 
and even if such activities are successful, the principal and th 
whole schol should encourage and codperate with religioj 
activities of the community. The principal should be able < 
willing to help in the Sunday schools or speak from the pul 
if need be, and the musical and literary talent of the sq 
should willingly and faithfully contribute to the servic 
religious worship among the churches of the community. 














28 
REFERENCES ON COMMUNITY WORK. 


Among Country Schools—Kern. 

Neighborhood Entertainments—Stern. 

Community Work of the Rural High School—Crosby. (From 

Agriculture Department Year Book, 191U.) 

‘Agricultural Projects for Rural Schools, (Mass. Board of Educa- 
tion.) 

The Corn Lady—-Fields. 

One Hundred Lessons in Agriculture—Nolan. 

Children’s Gardens for School and Home—Miller. 

Boys Agricultural Clubs—Crosby. 

The Rural Church and Country Betterment—yY. M. C. A. Press 
New York. 

Chapters in Rural Progress—Butterfield. 








